Former West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo has called Nicholas Pooran's attempts at altering the condition of the ball during West Indies' third ODI against Afghanistan a "silly mistake".
"I know Pooran since he was 17 years old and he is not that type of player," Bravo said on Thursday in Abu Dhabi where he will be playing in the T10 tournament as Maratha Arabians' captain. "Yes, that (ball-tampering) happened, the evidence is there. But deep down inside he doesn't mean anything [bad] to cheat or anything."
Four officials from a CPL franchise were pulled up by anti-corruption officers during the 2019 season. One of them, thought to be either part of or close to the ownership structure, was the main focus of a report made to anti-corruption officials by a player from the franchise. The man was detained at Trinidad airport, not allowed to travel with the team during the early part of the season and ultimately was asked to leave the tournament.
The individual in question did not make a direct approach to the player who eventually reported him. Instead, ESPNcricinfo understands, the nature of the interactions between them had made the player wary. Sources say that the player believed he was being groomed as someone who could eventually be approached to carry out corrupt activities, which is what led him to reporting him to the anti-corruption authorities,
It is unclear how influential or senior the individual in question is, or whether he has a stake in the ownership of the franchise, but he did present himself to the player as part of the ownership group.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) are pleased to announce the appointment of A.R.Srikkanth as the new West Indies Men’s Team Analyst, on a two-year contract.
Srikkanth is one of the leading T20 cricket analysts in the world having worked in the India Premier League (IPL), Pakistan Super League (PSL), Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and Global T20 Canada.
He is also no stranger to West Indies players having worked with Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder and Rovman Powell for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) since the inception of IPL and the Trinbago Knight Riders (TRK) since the Red Chillies Entertainment ownership, took over the three time CPL winners in 2015.
Srikanth’s role with the West Indies will be in addition to his roles with KKR and TKR.
It’s back to the Ekana Cricket Stadium for the West Indies and Afghanistan, as their three-match T20I series gets underway on Thursday morning Caribbean time. With only seventeen T20Is on the Caribbean side’s schedule, before the ICC World Twenty20 in March of next year, newly-appointed captain Kieron Pollard has next to no time to whip the defending champions into form.
And with cricket’s most-recent ball-tampering scandal keeping Nicholas Pooran ( who is, no doubt, an integral part of Pollard’s plans) out for the first three of these seventeen fixtures, the task has become a bit more difficult.
Along with himself, Pollard has been appointed the following team to marshal against Afghanistan in India: Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Brandon King, Fabian Allen, Jason Holder, Hayden Walsh Jr., Lendl Simmons, Khary Pierre, Sheldon Cottrell, Denesh Ramdin, Kesrick Williams, Alzarri Joseph.
Nicholas Pooran has been handed four suspension points after admitting breaching level 3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel during the 3rd ODI match against Afghanistan at Lucknow on Monday.
Pooran was charged with violating Article 2.14 of the code, which relates to “changing the condition of the ball” after video footage showed him scratching the surface of the ball with his thumbnail. He will now miss the next four T20I games (three against Afghanistan and one against India) and will have five demerit points added to his record.
Pooran admitted the offence on Tuesday and accepted the sanction proposed by Chris Broad of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees and, as such, there was no need for a formal hearing.
